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Review and Herald, Vol. 80, No. 28.

Publishers’ Page

Review and Herald

Jul 14, 1903

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 14, 1903

Publishers’ Page

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Company
The Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Company can supply any book Published by Seventh-day Adventists, or any trade book issued by any other publishing house in any country.

Education

A NEW BOOK BY MRS. E. G. WHITE
A VALUABLE volume on education in its entirety, covering all its phases, especially prepared for parents, teachers, and students; excellent for all classes. The great principles of Christian education are clearly set forth, and invaluable counsel for the education of the youth is placed within the reach of all.
321 pages, beautifully bound, three-color cover design; price, $1.25.
Order of the State Tract Societies, or of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.

Special Offer

Mental Arithmetic for Twenty-five Cents

FOR a short time we offer to our church-school patrons, Prof. E. A. Sutherland’s “Mental Arithmetic,” for 25 cents, postpaid. This offer will afford all a favorable opportunity to secure this book for the fall and winter schools.
The great majority of the readers of the REVIEW are familiar with this book, and a detailed description is not necessary in this notice of the reduction of price. It is an excellent text-book for our church schools, and at the price we now offer it, it is easily within the reach of all.
The objectionable features found in other arithmetics that contain problems dealing in liquor, tobacco, drugs, tea, coffee, candies, false weights and measures, which have a tendency to poison the youthful mind, are eliminated, and the book presents the principles of mathematics to the pupils from an entirely new, original, and practical standpoint, yet in harmony with sound arithmetical principles.

Living Fountains or Broken Cisterns

WE have a few more “Living Fountains,” which we offer at 65 cents a copy.
This book gives the history of the two systems of education, Christian and pagan. It reveals the cause of the failure and apostasy of Israel, of the early church, the reformers, and modern Protestants, and also the weakness of the remnant church can be traced to no other ground, than pagan methods and wrong principles of education instilled into the minds and hearts of children and youth of the past and present generations.
President Harper, of the Chicago University, says: “It is difficult to prophesy what the result of our present method of education will be in fifty years. We are training the mind in our public schools, and yet the moral side of the child’s nature is almost entirely neglected. The Roman Catholic Church insists on remedying this manifest evil, but our Protestant churches seem to ignore it completely. They expect the Sunday-school [and we the Sabbath-school] to make good what our public schools leave undone.”
This excellent book contains 428 pages. Substantially bound in cloth, and originally sold for $1.25; present price, 65 cents, postpaid.

Mothers’ and Teachers’ Manual

BY PROF. C. C. LEWIS
THIS book is especially designed to assist in the home and the church-school work. It contains suggestions from our best educators for mothers and teachers. To all those interested in the education of the youth, and to mothers, this is indispensable. We have a few copies remaining, which we will sell at the following reduced prices: paper covers, 25 cents; cloth, 35 cents.
Order of the Review and Herald.

Patriarchs and Prophets

AS the International Sunday-school Lessons for the last half of 1903 will be upon old Testament subjects specially treated in “Patriarchs and Prophets,” the present time is very favorable for the sale of this book to thousands of Sunday-school attendants, teachers, and workers.
“Patriarchs and Prophets” contains the foundation principles of the message, and interweaves them in the biographies of the leaders of Israel mentioned in the coming Sunday-school lessons, in a manner that will guide those studying these lessons into the full gospel for this time. While the circumstances are favorable, a special effort should be made to give the people this “meat in due season.”
Send to the Review and Herald for free copies of “Helpful Hints,” which contains the topics of the International Sunday-school lessons, and the pages in “Patriarchs and Prophets” where these lesson topics are mentioned.
“Patriarchs and Prophets” is an elegant book in every particular. It is published in the English, Danish-Norwegian, Swedish, German, and Holland languages, and substantially bound in all the popular styles of binding. It contains 760 large pages; prices, $2.25 to $4.50.
Order of the State Tract Societies, or of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.

The Revised State Secretary’s Record

UPON the suggestion of the General Conference secretary, some questions asked in the quarterly report blanks usually sent in from the churches have been omitted in the new blanks, and the new, revised State Secretary’s Record books have been changed to contain only such questions requiring answer in the revised blanks.
The changes made will in no way interfere or confuse those using the old blanks and the old State Secretary’s Record books, they being made merely to shorten and to simplify the reports and records, thereby rendering them easier, and more likely to be kept.
These blanks and the secretary’s books may be secured by ordering from the Review and Herald Publishing Company.

The Place of the Bible in Education

BY A. T. JONES
248 pages, in paper and cloth bindings, 25 and 75 cents, postpaid.
ONE of the new books just out. An excellent volume to study in connection with “Education.” Its chapter divisions are as follows:—
Christian Education; The World’s Education; The Essentials of Knowledge; The Secret of the Great Apostasy; The Greek or “Scientific Method” To-day; The Separation of Christianity and the State; The Bible’s Right to Supreme Place in Christian Education; The Education of Daniel; What Was Taught in the Schools of the Prophets; The Study of Wisdom; The Study of Knowledge; The Study of Science; The Study of Mental Science; The Study of Moral Science; The Study of Physical Science; The Study of Physical Science—Anatomy; The Study of Physical Science—Healing; The Study of Physical Science—Physical Culture; Literature, History, Law, Logic; The Failures of Popular Education.
Order of the State Tract Societies, or of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.

Friend in the Kitchen

A PRACTICAL vegetarian cook-book. It contains over 400 palatable and wholesome recipes free from flesh foods, also many suggestions on foods and their combinations, and miscellaneous instruction of practical value and importance to every housekeeper. Bound in two substantial bindings: oilcloth and oilpaper; prices, 50 cents and 25 cents, postpaid. Kept by all tract societies and publishing houses.

The Nature of Man

By Editor

Editorial

The Nature of Man

There is one passage of Scripture which settles the whole question of the nature of man: “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the breath of Jehovah bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass.” It is because men have rejected these simple truths that they ever set up the claim that man is by nature immortal. He who really believes that he is grass will know that “as for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.” How forcible and how plain is this teaching! Since all flesh is grass, a man has no more power of himself than has the blade of grass in the field. For a man to claim an eternity of existence, apart from the salvation of God, is to set himself up as God, having life in himself. But there is only one man who has life in himself, and that is the Son of man. “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” Jesus, the Son, “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Those who believe on Jesus receive him, and in receiving him they “lay hold on the life which is life indeed.” Therefore “he that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.” All the reasonings of the theologians, all the speculations of the philosophers, and all the “manifestations” of Spiritualism can not overthrow these simple statements of the Scriptures. How much better it would be for men to receive with thanksgiving the gift of life, rather than to spend their time in the useless effort of trying to prove that they have the gift already. This is one of Satan’s ways of cheating men out of the gift. “I have set before thee life and death, . . . therefore choose life, that thou mayest live.” “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” Man is mortal. God “only hath immortality.”

An Ancient Doctrine

There is only one way of salvation, and that is through faith in the atoning work of Christ. There has never been any other way. This is the divinely appointed method of justification by faith. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Bishop Horsley in one of his charges (1790) thus refers to the history of the doctrine of justification by faith: “That man is justified by faith without the works of the law was the uniform doctrine of the first Reformers. It is a far more ancient doctrine; it was the doctrine of the whole college of apostles. It is more ancient still; it was the doctrine of the prophets: it was the religion of the patriarchs.” This is the fundamental truth of the gospel in all ages. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Let us sound the joyful message in every land.

Do It Quickly

There is a peculiar intensity manifested in all the experiences of life today. There is a strain upon the people of all classes which was not felt in any such degree a quarter of a century ago. This is a sign of the times. Some years ago this instruction was given to us also through the spirit of prophecy: “Something great and decisive is to take place, and that right early. If any delay, the character of God and his throne will be compromised. . . . Intensity is taking possession of every earthly element; and as a people who have had great light and wonderful knowledge, many of them are represented by the five sleeping virgins with their lamps, but no oil in their vessels; cold, senseless, with a feeble, waning piety. While a new life is being diffused and is springing up from beneath, and taking fast hold of all Satan’s agencies, preparatory to the last great conflict and struggle, a new light and life and power is descending from on high, and taking possession of God’s people who are not dead, as many now are, in trespasses and sins.” It is evident that the great controversy is fast coming to the climax, and that we have entered upon the last campaign of the whole struggle. We must plan and labor now with the understanding that a great work is to be done quickly, and we must learn how to lay hold of that divine power which will make this possible. We do not seem to realize to a sufficient degree that this is the Lord’s work, and that our great Leader has infinite power and resources at his command. “He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” We have come to the time when the mystery of God is to be finished, and now we can be assured that “he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” Whatever work is committed unto us now, we must do it quickly.

Homeward Bound

When Jesus was about to leave this world, he encouraged his disciples with the thought that he would make a home for his followers to which he would take them when he returned to this earth. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” We are now in a world of sin and sorrow, bearing the weight of the curse, but we are homeward bound. The difficulties are many, and the trials are severe, but we are homeward bound. The times are perilous, and we grow sick at heart as we see the havoc which sin is making in the world, but we are homeward bound. It is evident that the most severe conflict in the whole controversy between good and evil is just before us, but we can enter upon it with courage and confidence in our Leader, for we are homeward bound. It is proper that the thought of being homeward bound should fill our hearts with holy joy. Home, Father, Elder Brother — how glorious is the prospect!
“Home, home, rest for the weary, Peace, peace, to the torn breast; Hope, hope, hope of the erring; There in thy bosom we’ll rest. Home, home, home, home,— There will the wanderers rest.”

The Closing Message and the Schools

(Concluded)
I HAVE faith to believe that the actual daily work of school life can be conducted from the standpoint of teaching the science of salvation. And to me it is one of the problems that seems to face us to arrange our school work so that every one in every department shall deal with the same truth.
There is much that is to be molded. I will not be destructive. I will not be too general in assertion; but I do think there is much yet to be molded by the power of the truth that the Lord is coming. I believe there is much to be molded in our direct plans for the school-room work by the power of that very truth in our lives and hearts. And when that is done, the schools will react in a wonderful way upon the progress of this message.
The educational work arose out of the message, and not before the message. But when the message exerts its influence upon the schools aright, the schools will react in a wonderful way for the finishing of this work, and you will find workers, from the youngest child to the gray-haired veteran, every one giving this message. We are told that the church schools are to give to the children that kind of an education that they shall be prepared as children to take up this work, when older ones are shut out from it.
The Lord is coming in this generation. There is a wonderful preparation to be made in our day, and it requires means, methods, plans, and purposes different from what have been seen in the world. No man living upon the face of the earth can plan God’s work for this closing generation by looking to the past conditions. No man can understand this work from what has been done. It is a new experience altogether. This last experience is the climax of all experiences.
And it must mean something to us if we allow that truth to mold our life and our work; it will mean something more to us than the application of prophetic periods and the determining of dates. It will mean an ever-living power, and the coming of Jesus Christ into our own experience, and that will shortly prepare us for the work which faces us.
I feel that deeply, and I believe that earnestly. But the center of it all is this question of the revelation of the law of God. The law of God is the center of the whole controversy. We profess loyalty to the King of heaven. We subscribe to his law, and profess to be under his banner; but what is being done in the earth to-day? His law is being trodden under foot. It is being declared that his law has been abolished. We are contradicting this statement out of the book, and proving out of the book that it has not been abolished, but that by faith we establish the law of God; but we are to prove that his law has not been abolished by revealing that law in humanity. Any man can stand before the mere argument, and say that the law is abolished; but no man can stand before the revelation of that law in humanity, and say that it is abolished.
That law was first given in definite form at Sinai, and God through his Son gave his law to the world in those ten commandments, and there was the thunder and the lightning, and such an outward revelation of the majesty of Jehovah, that the people were afraid, and drew back afar off, and desired that God would not speak to them any more lest they die, and they said to Moses, “Speak thou unto us, and we will hear.” And God listened to that word, and so he spoke through Moses, that through humanity he might reach humanity with his law at that time. But Moses said unto the people, “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you . . . like unto me,” and that prophet came and spoke that law again in humanity; and the sermon on the mount is simply the second revelation of God’s law from the mount, drawn out for the benefit of humanity. That same humanity through whom was given that further revelation of the law of God from the mount, went up into the mount of transfiguration, and that very same law that was written in his heart as the law of life, as the light of the world, and that very same character of God which was but the revelation of what the law of God is,—that light broke through the veil of humanity, and his garments became white and glistening, so as no fuller on earth could whiten them; and when his disciples were awakened, they saw his glory; and what did they see?—Nothing less than the veritable light of God’s law. Could any man, seeing that light shining forth through humanity in such a way as that, stand up and say God’s law is abolished?
He has said to us, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see”— not garments white and glistening, not a dazzling light that would strike the eye, but “your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” And that result will come. But that is simply letting that same light that so dazzled the disciples on the mount shine out in character, in good works; but when it shines out in that way, there will be a testimony to the perpetuity of God’s law that surpasses any argument drawn from a book.
Now I do not say that we should not present the fullness of the truth of the Book, but what I long to see is that the Book shall go to the world, translated through humanity, and then it ceases to be an argument simply; it is a revelation of the light of life to the world.
It seems to me that the practical problem for us to face with reference to the school work is to study how the revelation of the law of God as the chiefest subject of study shall be applied practically in the school work. You say that the children must be taught to read. Certainly they must be taught to read, but there is a way of teaching them to read that will contribute to the result of which we have spoken. The very means used in teaching them to read will be a means of bringing to them this same kind of experience. You say that they must be taught practical things. Is not God’s law broad enough to take in practical things, practical duties? Did not God’s law show its breadth in its application to the Jewish nation, and did he not tell them that if they would observe his statutes, they should be the head and not the tail? From my standpoint, it is our human limitations on this very instruction that has come to us about that in the Bible and through the spirit of prophecy, which shuts off very much of the breadth of this experience. “But I do not see how it can be done,” says one. I agree with you, and we never shall see as long as we continue to occupy that attitude toward this truth. How do we instruct the people that they are to see things?—By believing them first; and that experience brings light to them, and so the application of these things comes not so much in plans previously made as in that experience that the wisdom of God must make plans as they are needed. You never saw a leaf grow to any pattern that it made first. It makes the pattern in the growing. There is much in this that neither you nor I can see, but I can see enough in it to draw me toward it, and to make it appear attractive as a definite plan for work: that God’s law in its fullness, in its breadth of application, shall be the all-absorbing theme of study for old and young, and the all-absorbing thing to which we shall give ourselves fully as the only way in which God’s work may be revealed in this generation, that this controversy between good and evil shall be brought to an end.
Our message against the beast and his image is not merely a message of controversy against certain doctrines taught by the papacy; it is a message of reality against semblance; it is a message of the real against the artificial. In the papacy we find the revelation of the mystery of iniquity, but we are not simply to present argument against argument, but to put reality against pretense. To put the law of God, which seems to be all that is real for humanity, — to put that into the life is the answer to all this false life that rules the world to-day under Satan’s control. Now there is a revelation to be made, there is a work to be done, that has not yet been done. After three years of study in the schools of Babylon the wisdom of Daniel and his companions was demonstrated in Babylon, and acknowledged to be ten times greater than that of all the teachers in Babylon. I want to know if three years of experience which we have had in methods of imparting divine knowledge in Christian education has made it evident in Babylon that our wisdom is ten times greater than that of their teachers?
Now that does not mean that we should not give any further thought to this question of Christian education, but it does mean to me that there is an experience that we have not yet laid hold of. I believe it, and my soul does weary of so much talk of the wonders of this thing, and so little of actual revelation of the wonders of this thing. I mean it in all Christian kindness, but I mean it. We have talked for years of the wonderful things that would come from Christian education, but my soul wants to see more of these wonders, and not have to hear so much talk about them. The revelation itself as God means that it shall be revealed, and as it will be revealed, — the revelation of that thing itself will quiet a great deal of discussion about the thing. And I am longing and praying for it; and I believe that you are. Without losing heart, but with a faith that will bring something to us in this work, let us lay hold more fully upon the reality of the thing itself in our own personal experience, that it may be revealed to the world in this movement.
We face this experience without rising up under God, and laying hold upon it. Now we must have that same faith that says, in spite of all, We are able to go up and possess the land. Nothing but that kind of faith in actual experience will do it. We talk about the faith of Caleb and Joshua, we preach about their faith; but we must exercise their faith in our own experience, and we must have that same faith with reference to this school work, but we can only exercise such faith as that in the word and promises of God, and the Bible has yet to take a new place in our experience and in the experiences of the school work; and when it has its place in our experience and in the experiences of the school work, there will be no longer any question in the minds of any as to the relation of the closing message to the schools.

“That He Might Bring Us In”

By William Ambrose Spicer

Now Let Us Go In

It is no time now to settle down as though to live a long time in this world. We are almost home — home in the promised land. After the forty years of wandering, Moses rehearsed God's purpose with Israel:—
“And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.” Deut. 6: 23.
God called the people of Israel out of Egypt to give them the goodly land which he had spied out for them. Unless they should reach the land, they were a people without a country. There could be no thought of settling down in the wilderness, to make it their home. There was no place where feet or hearts could rest down.
Everything about them — their tents, their equipment, the daily manna, and the pillar of fire and of cloud — betokened a pilgrimage. Everything indicated a nation on the march. There was no place for them back in Egypt, there was no place for them in the wilderness; the only thing for them to do was to march straight forward into the land.
Now we, as Israel were, are children of the promise. God called this people out of the world in the great advent movement, nearly a generation ago. It has been a longer pilgrimage than it need have been. But he brought us out that he might bring us in. He has not forgotten his purpose. And we may know now that we are on the borders of the eternal Canaan. We can never think of settling down as other churches. Our origin and history indicate a people raised up to carry to the world the stirring message that Jesus is coming in this generation. To think of settling down as Sabbath-keeping churches merely to live moral lives, and engage in philanthropic work for another thirty or forty years is to deny absolutely the basis of our whole movement, and to shut our eyes to its history.
The very fact that there is a people called Seventh-day Adventists in the world is evidence that there is now to be a people all astir, going up and down this world sounding the warning of the great day of God. Every appointed worker is to be a minuteman, ready for quick marches. Every man in business who has the gift of earning money, and who believes this truth, is to run his business for that one thing — to tell the world as quickly as possible that the end is at hand.
As surely as we are alive and called Seventh-day Adventists, we are a people on the march, and there is no place to settle down, no basis on which to plan for any other future than that which centers inside the promised land.
“God bids his people on the earth, Before he comes and calls them hence, To live unknit to home and hearth, Like far-bound travelers — in tents.
“O brother, whatsoever chain Binds us to fleshly lust and strife, Here let us rend it in God's name, And live, henceforth, the pilgrim life.”
“He brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.” And, thank God, we are to go in ere all the fathers in the message have fallen asleep. Never had a people such a glorious call to service as have we. Now indeed Heaven calls for this people to make it manifest that we are really on the march. The spectacle of sixty thousand Seventh-day Adventists throwing every energy into service, and devoting their all to the one thing of carrying this message to the world, now and at once, would make earth's millions tremble. They shall see it, and that, too, without long delay. There is to be no turning back of God's purposes. Some must quickly enter in, and the final work now faces us. W. A. S.

Futile Reform Efforts

By L. A. S.

Among other resolutions relating to Mormonism passed by the late Presbyterian General Assembly, was the following:—
This assembly also calls upon the people and Congress, in both houses, and each member of each house, to employ and exhaust all legal means to secure such an amendment to the Federal Constitution as shall define legal marriage as monogamic, and make polygamy under every guise and practice a crime against the United States, punishable by adequate penalties, including disfranchisement and disqualification to vote or hold office in the United States, or in any State or Territory under the jurisdiction of the United States.
If the legislation here sought were secured and impartially enforced, the results would, we think, be such as the assembly did not contemplate; for “polygamy under every guise and practice” means very much more than is contained within the bounds of Mormonism, if we may believe what physicians and the divorce court records tell us. According to these statements, the American people themselves, who are called upon to rise up and suppress a feature of Mormonism, need themselves to be reformed quite as much as do those against whom this legislation is sought.
We are constantly hearing from clergymen and others, about the awful proportions to which the divorce evil has grown in this country. What may be called “consecutive polygamy”—dropping the first wife (or husband) when the second is taken, etc.—is practiced through these courts. Or again, there is secret polygamy—marital infidelity—which upon good authority is said to be so prevalent as almost to honeycomb society.
And these very people, whom the phrase “polygamy under every guise and practice” would make transgressors, are called upon by the Presbyterian Assembly to suppress polygamy; to legislate against themselves. Such legislation would be sadly wanting in that force which consistency gives, to say the least.
It is an illustration of a reformation that will not reform. The object aimed at is superficial, and the remedy applied is inadequate. What is most needed in America, as no doubt in civilized lands the world over, is the application, not of human laws to the person, by the power of man, but of God’s law to the heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is for this that Presbyterians and other religious bodies should earnestly work and pray.
L. A. S.

“A Remarkable State of Affairs”

By L. A. S.

There is a revolt in the Philippine Islands against the religious authority of Rome, and a movement away from Rome has for some time been under way, led by a native priest named Aglipay. Rome is, of course, endeavoring to suppress the revolt, and through her masterful diplomacy has succeeded in establishing an arrangement whereby she can make use to this end of the authority of the United States government. The facts relating to this matter show, in connection with other events which have marked the negotiations concerning the Philippine friars, how this government is unwittingly playing into the hands of Rome, and lending its power to promote the schemes of the papacy. There are some in the Protestant church who see the situation, and from time to time are sounding notes of alarm. One of these is the Rev. T. S. Childs, D. D., who in a contribution to the New York Observer (Presbyterian), written from the national capital, calls attention to the following statement in a recent issue of the Washington Post:—
More than a year ago, with the knowledge and consent of this government, Chaplain Vattmann was directed by the authorities of the Catholic Church in the United States to make a thorough investigation of church questions in the Philippines, and to report the result of his conclusions to the Catholic hierarchy. This report he submitted to the archbishops at their annual meeting held at the Catholic University. The report of Chaplain Vattmann was not made public, and may not be for some time, and those cognizant of its contents manifest reticence in discussing it. It is known, however, that it covered exhaustively all phases of Catholic Church questions in the Philippines, including the friar question, and the result of what is popularly known as the “Aglipay movement.”
Aglipay is an insurgent priest, who practically has renounced the authority of the Church of Rome, and has organized what he terms the “Philippine Catholic Church.” He has gained a large following among the Filipinos. While he does not incite open rebellion, he and his followers are not only opposing the authority of the Roman Church in the islands, but also are opposing insidiously and effectively the establishment of American rule. . . .
Executive action concerning the matter will originate, necessarily, at Rome. In whatever action eventually may be taken, the United States government, however, is interested vitally. The questions presented by Chaplain Vattmann in his report to the archbishops were discussed by him with Secretary Root, and it was with the knowledge that Chaplain Vattmann expected to bring the result of his investigation to the attention of the Vatican that Secretary Root granted him an extended leave of absence.
Upon this Mr. Childs makes the following comments:—
Here is a remarkable state of affairs. A man appointed and paid by the government to act as chaplain in the army, is, “with the knowledge and consent of this government,” “directed by the authorities of the Catholic Church” to investigate religious questions in the Philippines, and “to report the result to the Catholic hierarchy,” six months’ leave of absence being granted him by the secretary of war that he might “bring the result of his investigations to the attention of the Vatican.”
If the Post were not a very intelligent and carefully conducted paper, and if days had not passed without any denial or modification of the article, we should be inclined to doubt the accuracy of the report. So far it stands unquestioned. Assuming it to be true, why does the secretary of war seek his information in regard to Aglipay, for instance, from a man under the “direction” of the Roman authorities? The testimony of this chaplain is in the face of abundant other testimony, and carries an absurdity on its face.
Aglipay’s position, as we understand it, is that of a Catholic reformer, and there is need enough of such work. But he owes his very power as a reformer to “American rule.” Without that rule his life would not be worth a day’s purchase. But, passing that, what are we to think of this tying up the action of our government with the judgment of the Vatican. . . . Here is a man commissioned by the government as a chaplain of the army, while his supreme if not his entire mission is in the interest of the Roman Church.
We can easily understand—for we have seen just such things before—how a man in the uniform of the United States government could impress the natives of the Philippines with the belief that he was representing this government in his opposition to the reform movement of Aglipay, and in his support of the infamous friars and of the papal interests in general. We have no doubt that the administration intends to deal fairly with all the religious bodies, but we have as little doubt that in this affair, as repeatedly before, the government has been used to further the objects of the Roman hierarchy. The policy of that hierarchy, if sustained by the government, will evidently be to crush out the moral and religious reformation inaugurated by Aglipay, and indirectly at least the work of all other Christian bodies for the spiritual regeneration and reformation of the Filipinos.
We mention these occurrences because they show how the way is being paved for a coming union between Rome and the United States, when the latter will, as the spirit of prophecy has foretold, “make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions.” And when that point is reached, “then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan, and that the end is near.
L. A. S.

Good Words From a Law and Order Society

By L. A. S.

WE have received from an official of the Inter-State Law and Order Society, a copy of The State Sentinel, the organ of the society, which has headquarters in New York City. The paper calls our attention to the society's attitude on the question of enforced Sunday observance, which we are pleased to note is in harmony with the rights of conscience and the principle of the separation of church and state. A report of the proceedings of the monthly business meeting of the league for May last states that the secretary, in answer to an inquiry from the editor of the New York World, as to the attitude of the society toward Sunday baseball, replied that “he had said in a telegram of two hundred and fifty words, that the State Law and Order Society was committed to ‘the enforcement of all just laws, and the enactment of such measures as would be beneficial to the community at large.’ A Sunday law, he explained, could hardly be called a just law—as it was an abridgment of religious liberty.”
The secretary proceeded in his reply to support this statement by references to the American Constitution and the Bible, than which there could be no higher authorities upon the subject. He said:—
In order to find if a law was just according to the American standard, it would be necessary to consult the Constitution of the United States. In that document we are informed that a man has a right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. The Constitution also states that no form of religion shall be recognized by law, and as the keeping of Sunday was always a religious act, it was therefore in violation of the Constitution to enact a law to compel its observance.
It is generally supposed that the divine authority for Sunday observance is based upon the fourth commandment, but this is false, as Sunday is the first day of the week, while the Sabbath commandment required the observance of the seventh day, which is Saturday. Friday evening until Saturday evening—sunset to sunset—is the seventh day according to Scripture. The first day runs from Saturday evening sunset until Sunday evening sunset. Sunday, therefore, is a part of two Scriptural days, and the whole of none.
We, therefore, see that a law to compel a rest upon a religious day would be illegal; and, also, if it was legal, that the Scriptural first day of the week is not comprehended in the Sunday law, and to Scripture we must go for authority for religious acts, especially if we desire to bind the observance of the act upon our fellow men. We can easily see that if we break the first six or seven hours of the first day of the week (on Saturday evening), we might as well break the whole day, as St. James has well said that he who shall “offend in one point . . . is guilty of all.” James 2:10.
Now in this great city of New York we have Jews, Seventh-day Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and other people who observe the seventh day (Friday evening until Saturday evening) as holy time according to the fourth commandment, as found in the twentieth chapter of Exodus. It is most unfair to impose upon these Hebrews and Christians the burden of observing Sunday, especially when no command to keep Sunday holy can be found in the New Testament.
The report adds that “after the remarks by the secretary, Mr. Rogers said: ‘I heartily agree with the stand the secretary has taken in defense of civil and religious liberty. I have no doubt that my colleagues have been greatly enlightened upon the salient features of this absorbing question, and that they are agreeable to the position taken by the secretary.’”
“No words of dissent were noted.”
We trust this attitude of the New York State Law and Order Society on the important question of Sunday legislation will have its effect upon public sentiment in that State, and upon similar organizations in other States, which need to be educated concerning the relation this question sustains to individual rights and the national welfare.
L. A. S.
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